This invention relates generally to the field of woodworking tools, and more particularly to push blocks that are used to advance or push a work piece past a cutting element of a wood working apparatus to cut the work piece.
Push blocks are devices that are used by operators of woodworking tools to advance, push or force a work piece past a cutting element of the woodworking tool to cut the work piece. Such push blocks typically have a body with a generally flat bottom surface that engages a surface of the work piece, e.g., a top horizontal surface. A heel member or surface is disposed perpendicular to the bottom surface of the push block and engages a trailing end of the work piece. A handle is provided for the operator to grasp and advance the work piece past the work piece the cutting element. The cutting apparatus typically has a guide rail that a side of the work piece abuts to advance the work piece in a straight line.
The heel members of many prior art push blocks are fixed and not adjustable and may not work well on work pieces of smaller or larger thicknesses. Prior art heel members that are adjustable are typically adjustable only between a position at which the heel member engages a top surface of a work piece and a position at which the heel member engages an end of a work piece. Again, such prior art heel members have similar shortcoming as to the fixed heel members in that they may not accommodate varying thicknesses of work pieces.
Accordingly, the below described selectively adjustable heel member for a push block can be adjusted to multiple positions relative to a bottom surface of the push block to accommodate work pieces of different thicknesses. To that end, the inventive heel member is configured to move between a retracted position on top of a work piece and a preselected. position to engage and end of a work piece.